Your Assignment for This Summer. . . .

Remembering can make you happy, 

Remembering can make you sad;
It all depends upon
The kind of life you’ve had.

Anticipation can make you sparkle, 

Anticipation can make you blue, 

You’re in charge of your feelings: 

The choice is up to you.

Plan ahead with determination, 

Take time for genuine prayer; 

Summer can be a new beginning 

To demonstrate you care!

Enjoy the possibilities,
Stretch yourself and grow; 

Accomplish something useful, 

Summer won’t last, you know!

By Elaine Hardt ©2009

You know, every season of the year presents to you this opportunity.  Pray about your attitude, words, actions.  God loves YOU! 

Freeway Frenzy

        Driving somewhere on vacation?  Watch out for freeway frenzy — theirs and yours!  Take a few minutes to read about a vacation several years ago . . . 

We might have prayed for you this summer.

If you were the red-headed lady in the gray mini-van with three kids in the back, driving the long stretch of highway heading north out of Salt Lake City, we prayed for you.

If you were the truck driver in a shiny blue Peterbilt with an Iowa license pulling a big black tarp-covered load up the mountains of Montana, we prayed for you.

In fact, we prayed for hundreds of drivers.  Young, elderly, in-between. People in cars, pickups, motorcycles, tractor-trailer rigs, even one long white limo.  Maybe you were one of them. 

All along the interstate people seemed to be in a hurry and in a bad mood, too.  When we left enough room between our vehicle and the one ahead some joker was quick to pull in the space.  Everyone was following too closely.  The whole scene was freeway frenzy.  

Ordinarily I would have been a basket case.  But this trip was different.

You Will Do Greater Things

“Greater things! ”  Jesus said you and I would do,

Wonderful things will happen for His Word is true;

We are to trust and obey in His Word we read,

By faith we step out as His promises we heed.

Be aware!  Be brave!  Be strong!  Speak up!  Do it now!

The LORD calls each of us and He shows us how;

Give these words some serious contemplation,

Then step up, shake off unbelieving reservation.

In these dark and hard days, greater things we need,

His Holy Spirit empowers us to do each deed;

We can do greater things — He’s the life, the truth, the way,

Give God the glory for what you can do today.

        By Elaine Hardt ©2013

Serious Thoughts After Reading the Newspaper

There is so much I’m not certain of

So little I certainly know;

I need to be reminded of truth and love

So I don’t lack what I need to grow.

      What do the Ten Commandments tell us about God?

He’s the One and Only

He made us and He made the rules

We are to heed and obey.

His rules didn’t expire long ago.

Not just a fleeting memory of Moses

Written by God on stone, each word

From captivity on their way to freedom

Words of God both seen and heard

 Why do we overlook the Ten Commandments?

Doing bad seems more exciting.

Evil has a strange attraction.

To disobey seems to assert our own desires.

It’s a challenge to not get caught.

Not just words from long ago

Which we can disregard when we want to say

“These are out-dated commandments!

Who decides if they apply today!”  

How can I honor the Creator I’ll be meeting someday? 

Looks like I need to read about Him in the Bible.

Looks like I need to realize what He said.

Looks like I need to realize the seriousness of my own death.

I’ll certainly make that a priority today.

By Elaine Hardt ©2013 

Holding On When You're So Tired

    The man was carrying a very tired youngster in his arms.  The little boy, probably two  years old, laid his head on the man’s broad shoulder.  The child needed rest and security; the child needed someone to take him where he needed to go.   Cuddled up to his father his small hands held on to the man’s jacket. 

     But it was the father’s strong arms, not the child’s small hands that did the holding on. 

     This is the way with you and me.  We are to “hold on” to our Heavenly Father.  
     But our little weak hands cannot give us support and security.  “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms,” Deuteronomy 33:27. 

       Of course, we are tired.  
      The world out there is very big and very unfriendly.  God did not mean for us to face life alone in our own strength.  No matter how old or independent or capable we may have become we always will need our strong Heavenly Father.  
      Clinging to Him doesn’t make us weak; it develops our trust and our obedience. Why would God have given His Holy Spirit to us if we didn’t need Him?  He will teach, remind, and empower us to do what pleases our Father. 

     After a person prays to receive Jesus as his Savior he or she begins a new way of life, a new relationship with God.  It’s not like the old way, the familiar way of living.  This new way is like walking with our hand in the hand of our Heavenly Father.  Always we are to be holding on— and yet in a much grander sense, it is God who is holding on to us. 

     Is this too simple to believe? Or, is it something you really want to do? This is very personal. Now, you are being put on the spot to decide for yourself.  

        Here's a list for you to check out:  

Consider Benefits: Greater Things in Your Life

Greater things are a possibility for me!

Greater learning improving personal ability;

Greater satisfaction is something I can achieve,

Greater usefulness is possible, because I now believe.

Greater significant victories!

Greater inner strength and freedom to see;

Greater insight into important things,

Greater happiness that inner freedom brings.

Greater stamina so I don’t so easily tire!

Greater connections with people up higher;

Greater ideas are welcome in my mind,

Greater inspiration I am able to find.

What's the Bigger Picture?

        While struggling through some kind of medium-sized aggravation or a big trouble you and I might be questioning the reason behind it. Perhaps, like Job,  our friends aren’t any help.  But maybe there’s a bigger picture to consider.  Maybe there is something to learn from this.  
         The book of Job in the Old Testament is an interesting book with lots of conversation after some severe problems hit this well-to-do man.  
Having the friends comment on what they view brings a focus, and Job rethinks, perhaps, or at least rehearses again his understanding of the matter.
The friends observe Job’s behavior and hear his replies.
Job even confesses a weakness on his part.
Later,  (how soon?)  God heals and restores Job and sends a huge, overflowing, visible blessing to Job.
The friends would at that time hear word of the amazing restoration, the amazing testimony of Job.
Is that what is happening to you?  To me?
Someone is observing our struggle, listening to our words, maybe taking part in a conversation with us.  Maybe they don’t immediately have a wonderful change of heart.  But perhaps somewhere, sometime later they do turn to the LORD.
This is the bigger picture that can be an encouragement to each of us.  Our personal struggles can point people to the LORD.
All praise to Him, for loving each of us that much! 

by Elaine Hardt ©2013